Mitsubishi Australia will shut its assembly plant for the last weeks of September in a bid to bring its bulging stockpile under control.

Mitsubishi time-out to clear stockpile

Mitsubishi Australia will shut its assembly plant for the last weeks of September in a bid to bring its bulging stockpile under control.

And it could also introduce resale price guarantees for fleet buyers in a bid to kick-start sales of its cornerstone Magna range.

The company is living a nightmare. In a new-vehicle market up 5 percent after eight months and heading for a fourth straight record, Mitsubishi's sales have plunged 25 percent to 36,997 vehicles in the first eight months of 2004.

That slump has stripped about $240 million from the company's revenues, but chief executive Tom Phillips is not panicking. He's disappointed, but he has his eyes firmly set on a sales recovery.

The issue, he says, is a lack of confidence that the company will be around in the long term, thanks to the uncertainty created by the financial reconstruction of its parent in April and May.

"We still haven't recovered from a lot of that," he said in Melbourne yesterday at the launch of the new Lancer Sportswagon.

"The six-cylinder market is 75 to 80 percent fleet business and, while we are getting a foot in the door with major fleet tenders, we just can't get over the line ... They tell us they are not confident about our future."